London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

New £620m US embassy is key to revival of Nine Elms in Battersea

London’s biggest regeneration project received a crucial boost when plans for a new £620 million US embassy in Vauxhall got the green light.

Wandsworth councillors approved the application for the huge glass cube, a key element in the revival of a 450-acre stretch of rundown industrial land known as the Nine Elms Opportunity Area.

Hundreds of embassy staff will move from their existing site in Grosvenor Square in 2017 and are expected to live, shop and exercise in the “New South Bank” district, which will also include the restored Battersea power station.

Wandsworth council’s planning chairman, Nick Cuff, said: “The embassy’s move is already acting as a magnet for new investment in this part of London which has started to change on an enormous scale.

“Once it opens its doors the complex will attract more than 1,000 visitors every day, boosting the local economy and bringing new life to this stretch of the South Bank.”

The new embassy, derided by some critics as “a corporate office block”, has been designed to be a welcoming contrast to the heavily guarded “fortress” in Mayfair.

All the security measures are designed to be as invisible as possible. Access will be controlled by a half-moat on one side and landscaping on the other.

“The new US embassy integrates aspects of British landscaping and site design, rather than high fences, to create security,” a spokesman said.

The development is centred on “The Chancery” — an 11-storey cube-shaped building.

Mr Cuff said the building “could be among the highest performing buildings in the world in terms of energy use and sustainability”.

The embassy spokesman added: “The aim is to create an iconic, timeless design that symbolises democracy and the enduring strength of the United States-United Kingdom relationship.”